In Commonwealth v. McCaffrey, the SJC held that swapping subsections of the aggravated child rape statute by amendment was a substantive change barred by Article 12, reversing five convictions and ordering not guilty judgments.
A one-paragraph budget rider erased pending Wage Act pay-frequency class actions against nonprofit colleges and health systems. Now the SJC must decide whether the Legislature can retroactively extinguish accrued claims, with Martin v. Amherst College leading the challenge.
Judge George O'Toole granted summary judgment to Massachusetts officials in Escher v. Noble, upholding the state's under-21 restriction on handguns and semiautomatic firearms against an NRA-backed Second Amendment challenge.
A not criminally responsible verdict in the Lindsay Clancy trial would be an acquittal, but not release. Here is how Massachusetts commitment law under Chapter 123, Section 16 actually works, step by step.
With both sides rested and closing arguments expected August 25, here is the complete Lindsay Clancy trial timeline, a summary of the testimony on each side, and what each possible verdict would mean.
With the Commonwealth's case nearing its end in Plymouth Superior Court, a courtroom-level analysis of how an insanity defense is actually litigated: fact witnesses first, forensic psychiatry next, and a jury weighing dueling experts.
As jury selection begins in Commonwealth v. Clancy, we examine the McHoul criminal responsibility standard, why Massachusetts makes prosecutors disprove insanity beyond a reasonable doubt, and what verdicts the jury can return.
Days before jury selection, Plymouth County prosecutors dropped three strangulation counts against Lindsay Clancy as redundant of the murder indictments. A look at nolle prosequi practice and why the filing signals trial readiness, not retreat.
